Minutes of Employee Safety Committee Meeting on 1/23/04

Harvey Mudd College Employee Safety Committee
*******************************************

Minutes from Meeting on January 23, 2004

In Attendance:

Annie Atiyeh (Physics - annie_atiyeh@hmc.edu)
Kimberly Rogers (Human Resources - kimberly_rogers@hmc.edu)
Lillian McCollum (Chemistry - lillian_mccollum@hmc.edu)
Elaine Guerra (Biology - elaine_guerra@hmc.edu)
Theresa Potter (Facilities and Maintenance - theresa_potter@hmc.edu)
Tony Pennington (EH&S Manager - tonyp@cuc.claremont.edu)
Mike Wheeler (Machine Shop - mike_wheeler@hmc.edu)
Ed Arismendi (EH&S Consultant)


Agenda Items:

1)  SAFETY TRAINING SESSIONS
    The Workplace Violence II and III session scheduled for Thursday,
    December 4, 2003 was cancelled due an insufficient number of
    people registering to attend.

    Safety training for the five basic sessions is scheduled
    for faculty on Thursday, February 12, 2004.  Staff training is
    scheduled for Thursday, February 19, 2004.

    Fire extinguisher training, for faculty and staff, is scheduled
    for Thursday, May 6, 2004.


2)  CPR AND FIRST AID TRAINING
    Kimberly maintains the list of persons who have been certified, 
    through the HMC program, to give CPR and emergency first aid.  
    She will contact these individuals, and will notify Annie by 
    March 26, 2004, regarding those interested in recertification.
    This recertification is a half-day, 4-hour session, and will be 
    held on June 26, 2004, at the Claremont Red Cross Center or on 
    the HMC campus.

    
3)  SAFETY INCENTIVES
    Annie and Kimberly both submitted sample cerificates.  The 
    Committee prefered the layout of Annie's sample, but decided to
    include the "authorized signature" entry on Kimberly's sample.
    Lillian suggested that the certificates be numbered, to 
    facilitate record keeping.  Kimberly will discuss these specifics 
    with Bill Casey, general manager of dining services at HMC, when
    she meets with him next Tuesday.  

    Names were drawn by the Committee members to select the 
    certificate winners from attendees at preveous safety training
    sessions of the 2003-2004 fiscal year. The winners are:  Karl
    Haushalter (Chemistry and Biology), Walt Farmer (F&M), Gilma
    Lopez (Financial Aid), and Sam Abdelmauti (Engineering).  

    Annie will attach a note of explanation with each certificate.
    Delivery will be via campus mail.  
  

4)  SKATEBOARD SAFETY
    The Committee discussed the letter dated November 17, 2003, that
    has been forwarded to Sheldon.  The feasibility of sending a 
    follow-up letter of inquiry was also discussed.


5)  FIRE SAFETY INQUIRY
    A fire incident had occurred, sometime ago in the Dining Services 
    kitchen, relating to the improper reignition of a gas range pilot 
    light.  At the time of the incident, Tony had formulated a
    procedural outline on how to safely reignite the pilot light, and
    had e-mailed this information to the Dining Services management.
    
    As Tony suggested, the Committee established that Annie forward a 
    letter to President Strauss requesting details concerning the 
    implementation of Tony's procedural safety measures.    


6)  NEW Cal-OSHA INSPECTION COMMITTEE
    In preparation for a potential on-site visit from Cal-OSHA, Tony 
    would like to form an HMC College committee composed of
    representatives from various Departments.  He mentioned that each 
    Department should speak with a "single" voice; this person 
    (Departmental representative) would be responsible for accompanying
    Cal-OSHA during an inspection, and providing any information 
    requested for evaluation.

    Kimberly Rodgers will contact the various Departments to establish
    the committee members. 
      

7)  OPEN DISCUSSION

    A.  Tony mentioned that he had received quite a few calls concerning
        work stations and related ergonomics.  CCR Title 8 specifies that
        employers are required to provide the basics of ergonomic 
        awareness and training for their employees.  Tony suggested that
        ergonomic software be purchased and be made available on the
        server.  This will enable each employee to self-evaluate his/her
        workstation.

        The ergonomic software will outline the following three 
        self-evaluation steps: 
        1) Basic information and checklist
        2) Conversation and collaboration with the supervisor 
        3) Overall workstation evaluation and adaptation 
       
        Theresa will speak with Richard Parker, Director of Computing
        and Information Services at HMC, about the possibility of making
        the basic ergonomics software available on the server.    

    B.  Tony mentioned that there should be periodic auditing of the
        safety training records of Dining Services and F&M.  Records of 
        these two departments are maintained internally, and not by the
        Committee.  

        Since the areas of highest risk activity should be monitored more 
        closely, the Committee recommended that Ed Arismendi, EH&S 
        consultant, conduct an annual audit of the safety training
        records of Dining Services.  
       

7) Next meeting:  Friday, March 26, 2004 at 11:00am in the Stauffer 
                  Lounge




A computer record and a hard copy of this report will be kept in 
Lillian McCollum's office (2310 Jacobs).
  
If you would like a hard copy, send your request to Annie Atiyeh 
at annie_atiyeh@hmc.edu